Allied Health Sciences

Audiology

In response to Department of Health  'Modernising Scientific Careers'  national programme; changing the way healthcare scientists are trained and educated for professions in the NHS, DeMontfort University has made changes to the curriculum of this course, effective from September 2011, after validation in the Spring.

The new Healthcare Science (HCS) degree programmes aim to develop a sustainable HCS workforce for the contemporary and ever-changing future.  Click here  for further details on these exciting new opportunities.

We are proud of our high quality teaching and the clinical contribution of our NHS and Independent Sector service partners; one of ourstrengths is in combining academic flexibility with practical relevance which ensures that our courses are relevant to the professional world and our graduates are fit to practice.

Facilities

All our courses are taught in modern dedicated facilities including an audiology laboratory with acoustic rooms equipped with a wide range of audiological instrumentation, a dedicated audiology skills classroom and a modern state of the art vestibular balance room.

We are a team of six with backgrounds in chemistry, instrumentation, optical fibres, physics, biomedical sciences, biology, toxicology, stats, and extensive clinical knowledge and experience. These combined skills bring strength to our Division which helps in us provide a challenging balance between core skills in basic sciences, professional practice and skills in medical aspects of audiology and audiological techniques and rehabilitation.

Courses

We offer a range of progressive career pathways including a two-year Foundation Degree in Hearing Aid Audiology, a four-year BSc Honours in Audiology, a three year part-time MSc in Auditory Science and a collaborative Faculty Professional Doctorate in Health Sciences. We will be developing modules that can form part of the requirement for the British Academy of Audiology’s ‘Higher Traing Scheme’, currently our Vestibular Science M level module has been accredited.

The courses have shared learning across professional and organisational boundaries facilitating the integration of theory and practice in teaching and learning both professionally and academically. This makes it possible for different ‘step-on’ and ‘step-off’ points, dependent on individual need yet giving a range of transferable academic knowledge and vocational skills for life long learning, whether in the Independent sector or NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework.

Course teaching includes professionals and practice staff from the NHS and Independent sector who also provide placement for the different courses from a few weeks to salaried twelve months. Where appropriate our courses are accredited by the respective professional body or Regulator.

Students Awards

The Faculty has a number of annual awards given to students, in addition to the audiology specific annual award the ‘Rufus Grayson Award’ and ‘Oticon Summer school’.

Teaching & Learning

All of our courses will use a variety of teaching and learning styles and not only the traditional lectures. This enables the course to lend itself to a diverse range of students with differing learning styles. There are also a range of assessment tools employed throughout the course hence ensuring that all students reach their full potential.

Funding

The Foundation Degree is HEFEC funded with support from employers in the form of a fee per student.

DMU Audiology Nationally

The division has many links in the world of audiology and we ensure that students enjoy a rich, diverse experience. We endeavour to expose students to the diverse areas of audiology and hence, not just improving their knowledge but also trying to get our students promoted into the world of audiology and therefore improve their employment changes.

Conferences

The Audiology Education conference has been held at DMU since its inception in 2006 and it’s the only conference in the UK focusing on training of audiologist.

We encourage our students to attend the British Academy of Audiology annual national conference and make allowances in the timetable. It is encouraged that our students present at the conference and this has resulted in one of our students winning a poster presentation in 2009 for work that was conducted at undergraduate level. This is a significant award as it was against work from other establishments including purely research based ones.